Big BIG spiders and open air toilets


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Asia » Cambodia » East » Senmonorom
November 10th 2007
Published: November 15th 2007
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Mondulkiri sceneryMondulkiri sceneryMondulkiri scenery

Red earth, rolling hills, jungle
In memory of my Grandma, an inspiration when it came to dealing with my travel-bug. She would have loved hearing about this trip.

Sorry this entry has taken a while to add. We've been in the jungle for a few days, and there was barely any power, let alone an internet connection. Well, our hostel, Nature Lodge had power most of the time only because the guy running it had set up a couple of small turbines in the river at the bottom of his property and was generating his own. Not much though, about 400W, but as most of his light bulbs were 15W energy savers, and there was no fridge etc, 400W was just enough. All the lights dimmed whenever they turned the blender on for a shake or juice, but we could live with that. It was such a great hostel, Nature Lodge, with little A frame cabins in the trees, open air toilets and showers, a big tree hut style lounge / dining area, good food, a really back to nature type place where we could just relax. Sen Monorum however, wasnt so exciting. But lets start with the bus ride there...

The guy at the hostel in Kratie told us there was no bus and that we would have to travel by pick-up, and that his friend just happened to have a pick up, but the guy at the bus company "office" next door assured us there was a bus, and it would leave at 7am the next day. Typical Asia. The bus was nice enough, small but had air-con of sorts (it was either on and cold or off and hot). The ride from Kratie to Snuol was fine, then we had a three hour wait for the bus from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorum to arrive, and pick us up on its way though. The next part of the ride however, was the worst we have had here. The first three hours the road was a total mess, pot holes bigger than the bus, we went up and down, side to side, no chance to read or sleep, all we could do was hold on. Then after the half way food/drink/toilet stop the road got better and we could get out of second gear. Not into fourth or anything, but at least we werent rocking around so much. Been on much worse roads though, just not this trip.

We got to Sen Monorum after dark and had to take a moto dup out to the hostel, getting further and further from town on some little dirt tracks, no signs...but there it was, food and a bed, and a hot shower under the stars.

The first day there, we took some moto dups out to Bou Sra Falls with four of the Swiss backpackers also at the Nature Lodge. Nearly 40km of rough road, corrugations, holes, narrow channels of dry in a sea of squishy mud...sun beating down...motodup drivers trying to prove that their bike was the fastest...but the falls were neat. A double set, the upper falls were about 10m the lower one about 25m, according to the guide book, but they both looked bigger than that. We also went to another cascade (not big enough to be a waterfall) and a view point with expansive though hazy views over the jungle.

The following day we attempted to use the internet, but it was slower than slow, in fact the screen didnt change the whole five minutes we were sitting there. One of the other people staying at the hostel said it took them an hour to send one email, not worth it. So we had a look round town, at the market, met a few people, had some lunch...Sen Monorum is more of a large village than a town, peopled by a mix of the local hill tribe people and immigrant Khmers. No one here hassled us like elsewhere in Cambodia, which in turn isnt like much of SE Asia either. In the afternoon, Soka, the guy who owns the hostel, was taking some of his family out to Monorum Falls, a few km from town, so we hopped in the back of his pick up too. These falls were ok, smaller than Bou Sra, and the area around them was a bit messed up as the Japanese are building a small hydro power station there, but the guys swam and had a beer, the girls watched and had a soft drink, and we all got wet and muddy on the way back as we had our first rain here.

The following day we got out into the jungle proper on the back of an elephant. Although the jungle / forest was dense and full of big trees, it didnt feel very jungle like. It was neat though clambering around on the back of that poor elephant though, crossing flooded streams, stopping every other step to eat a tree or two. We walked for nearly three hours before stopping, but we didnt get very far due to the elephants continuously munching on something, bamboo and some vine being the favourite. While we had lunch, the elephants wandered around still eating, then they had a bath in the river which they seemed to really enjoy, rolling around, going right under with only their trunk poking up.

Those big spiders, not hairy tarantulas, but the same size with skinnier legs, were everywhere at the hostel, in our rooms, in the bathrooms, but they only came out at night, sitting on our packs when we needed to get something out, sitting on the flush handle in the toilet...apparently they arent poisonous but we didnt want to find out. Showering under the stars is always pretty magical though. It was a bit cooler here at night as we are quite high, but still roasting during the day.

Next stop Phnom Penh for a few days before having to head for home and work. But that will be another blog another time, there are things to see and do out there...


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15th November 2007

Trip
Sounds like a good trip. I bet you haven't watched liverpool win

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